In the mood for Bocelli

We all know that Luciano Pavarotti has already passed into the great beyond and new releases from Jose Carreras and Placido Domingo come few and far between. So we are all grateful that Andrea Bocelli is around to shore up the glories of the lyrical voice. His latest, produced to celebrate his 50th birthday this year is the aptly titled Incanto.

How right. Andrea Bocelli’s singing indeed sounds enchanting and his voice has improved so much in tone and control since his Con Te Partiro days. Back then a lot of people thought that though quite good, he was just another upstart trying to rank himself alongside the august three tenors. Not anymore. In fact, Bocelli has attained stardom all on his own and must be one of the most successful lyrical tenors of modern times.

Expect his stock to rise a lot more with the arrival of Incanto, which is probably his most commercial album so far. It is not only made up of familiar tunes, the arrangements are so joyful and spirited that the listener cannot help but get caught up in the jubilant mood. I guess it is his tribute to Spanish and Italian music and the melodies he grew up with. The songs and the singing are classical, but these are songs we all once heard everywhere.

By everywhere I mean not only the concert halls but also in motion pictures, jukeboxes and in the case of us Pinoys even the amateur contests in the barrios. Breathes there anybody around who has not heard a contestant go through Granada, Spanish lyrics and all. Those are the kind of songs he chose to do in Incanto. Of course the collection would have really been complete with O Sole Mio, Torna a Sorrento and La Donna e Mobile but what he offers are also quite popular and arranged in a setting that is old, rustic and sadly missed.

I like his rendition of Mamma best. We are so used to hearing this performed with so much sadness by a “crying” voice. Not this one. Andrea does it as an exuberant paean to mothers. Non Ti Scordar Di Me is particularly moving and Mario Lanza would be quite proud of his Because. And who wouldn’t want to hear this great voice do the likes of Funiculi Funicula and Santa Lucia.

For those who will be buying their first Bocelli CD, please do not be put off by the Italian titles, once you start listening, you will find the tunes are really quite familiar. Also included are Un Amore Cosi Grrande featuring Veronica Berti, O Surdato ‘Nnammurato, Voglio Vivere Cosi, Vieni Sul Mari, Era De Maggio duet with Anna Bonitatibus, A Marechiare, E Vui Durmiti Ancora and Pulcinella.

And if you are in a Bocelli mood these days or somebody in your gift list, you might want to consider Vivere, The Best of Andrea Bocelli. This is the money saver, the CD to get if you want only his hits and not to collect all those expensive albums where you might not like all the cuts. It is really what we should consider buying during these difficult times.

This one has La Voce del Silenzio, Sogno, Il Mare Calmo Della Serra, Dare to Live (Vivere) a duet with Laura Pausini, Canto Della Tierra, A Te featuring Kenny G on the soprano sax, Besame Mucho, Mille Lune Mille Onde, Time to Say Goodbye (Con Te Partiro) a duet with Sarah Brightman, Io Cisaro featuring Lang Lang on the piano, Romanza, Viva Per Lei a duet with Georgia, Melodramma, Bellissime Stelle, The Prayer with Celine Dion, and Because We Believe.

Another treat is Sacred Arias by Andrea Bocelli with the Orchestra and Choir of the National Academy of Saint Cecilia conducted by Myung-Whun Chung. Now this is incredibly beautiful but also pretty serious stuff made up as it is with excerpts from great classical works. There are three Ave Marias by Caccini, Bach/Gounod and Schubert, the Panis Angelicus by Franck, Cujus Animam a Stabat Mater by Rossini, Mille Cherubini in Cora by Schubert, Sancta Maria by Mascagni, Ingemisco a Requiem by Verdi, Ave Verum Corpus by Mozart, Der Engel by Wagner plus others.

If you are a fan and want to check out how superb Bocelli can be, get this one. If you want a regular Christmas album with songs like White Christmas, I guess we will have to wait for a year or two before he decides to come up with one.